It was a dream come true, when I received a congratulating message on the office WhatsApp group last evening, it said,” KUDOS, with loads of flower and congratulating emoticons” and everybody congratulated, but with no explanation and leaving me in my excited world of hallucinations, where I almost imagined myself grabbing the ‘Employee of the year’ award, but the wire of my illusions broke with a loud beep sound oozing from Smartphone with a notification from my CEO, thankfully his one line message brought the revelation to me, the message had a succinct content “Preeti, UDID blog is a massive hit with clients, write more”, though I couldn’t comprehend, whether it was a praise or a set of instructions, but I too replied without being evasive and sent a :). Although I also didn’t understand whether my reply was also a mere nod, thanks or a simple acknowledgment, well, whatever it was, I didn’t receive any more message trailing, but I cleared my doubts that it was not an Award winning dream come true situation, but it was my last blog “HOW TO GET UDID OF YOUR IPHONE WITHOUT BEING TECHNICALLY CHALLENGED“, which filled my Smartphone screen with limitless notifications.

This morning, I couldn’t believe the stats shown by SEO, and made me accept the fact that my last blog was not just majorly read by our clients, but also a lot many users across the globe took a dive into the blog and praised the clean writing style. To treat and pamper myself, I instantly called the boy to grab a box of Ferrero Rocher from the nearby market, but while taking the money out, I stopped myself and decided to promote Demonetization drive of our beloved PM Modi and online ordered from BigBasket. After digging and almost finishing the chocolate box I sat and realized what other factors really trouble the client or a non-technical person. While running with my thought process, some random piece of chat struck me, when a junior iOS developer pinged me in the wee hours with a ‘SAD FACE’ emoticon, that he couldn’t download the .ipa file ….so I picked my topic and here I am writing about ‘How to install .ipa file on your iPhone’. So let’s begin

What is .ipa File

Before we proceed with the process of installing, let’s clear some basic facts, like what is .ipa file all about? IPA stands for “iOS Application Archive “, it stores the iOS app. Also, every .ipa file has a binary for the ARM architecture, which can only be installed on an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. iOS device. These files work as containers (like ZIP) to hold the various pieces of data that make up an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch app; like for games, utilities, weather, social networking, news, and other apps. The structure of an IPA file is same like for every app; an iTunesArtwork file is a PNG/ JPEG file used as the icon for the app, the Payload folder contains all of the app’s data, and information about the developer and application are stored in the file called iTunesMetadata.plist.

Why You Need It

For the iOS developer, the .ipa file allows testing the app on your iPad or iPhone before you send the .zip file to Apple for review and you have to install .ipa file on iPad/iPhone to test it further.

How To Install .ipa File

Before installing you should remember that .ipa file can never be installed through AirDrop, Dropbox, or a similar service. Apple allows you to install the .ipa files with two ways: first you can add the .ipa file to your iTunes library on your Mac and sync your iPad/iPhone with iTunes, but this way has a drawback that if your mobile holds a little excessive data then the process would take a little extra time than expected.

Method 1 – Using iTunes

With iTunes the .ipa installation is safest and most preferred by the developers across the globe.

Step 1

Connect your iPhone to Mac and launch iTunes.

Step 2

Go to View – Show sidebar

Step 3

Select the apps and drag its .ipa file into iTunes library.

Step 4

Go to the library – apps – select application from the main menu.

Step 5

Drag and drop an application from the main menu to the device.

Step 6

Wait for iTunes to synchronize and your .ipa file is there.

Method 2- Install .ipa Files Online

For the first time users, Diawi is a similar online tool for IOS developer, help you install .ipa file directly on iPhone.

Step 1

Open Diawi.com.

Step 2

Upload the application and its provisioning profile.

Step 3

Send the link to your testers, clients, and friends or even use it yourself. (Either by Mail, WhatsApp etc.)

Step 4

Open the link in Safari on the iOS device and click on install.

Step 5

Your .ipa file is ready for you.

Phew!! I got tech bitten while writing this blog, although it was all for the .ipa installation on your iPhone, and I hope it will help you all with the .ipa installation next time, and with this hope that your .ipa installation would be a smooth journey I sign off, with little information about the company I am associated with currently…That is Techugo – a top mobile app development company, where we take pride in developing the mobile apps for the leading brands to startups and our mobile app development team has the expertise to create a unique variety of mobile app solution for your business needs, which would help you to showcase your idea, goal, and dream in the most informative and engaging way. Our team of top mobile app designers is here to help assist you with every step of your mobile app development strategy. We consult, brainstorm, manage the project, design, develop, test, launch, and market apps in the best possible way. You can get in touch with our team to discuss further your concept to bring into reality. The discussion would help you to gain a better insight of your app requirement.

It was one hour left to complete the 24 hour cycle of a day and bid goodbye to one of the usual tiring day of my daily work schedule, and I was all set to hog on everything my refrigerator had to offer, I took a long yawn to depict my exhaustion and lifted my finger to close my lappy, and suddenly saw a new notification on Skype, with eagerness I clicked the icon, found it to be one of my clients, who had written,” how to get UDID on my iPhone”? , it was late, so I thought to reply a little later, after serving my appetite desire, but the 2 ‘?’ after the first comment from the client, forced me to keep the thought of my dinner a little aside and serve his query first. Well, not so surprisingly, I ended up the Skype chat + call with him after 45 minutes of tiring session, where to explanation consumed a little more time, and I pity myself being starved to death, but had to calm myself down, with a smiley received from my client at the end. My next destination was absolutely fridge, where I finished the leftovers without a delay and while munching on the pizza slice, a thought came into my mind.

I realized that most of the clients are from non-technical background and to expect them to understand the technical aspects of their iPhone, is little too much to ask for. So why not inform all of them the basic requirements of iPhone technicalities from our blog portal, with a determined thought process of writing a blog on UDID of the iPhone, I hit the sack to be awaken in next 7 hrs. Today, am here writing the blog, let’s proceed and handle the technicalities with little expertise to make it more convenient for the clients, who can access this relevant piece of information, across the globe

What Is UDID

The UDID is the abbreviation for Unique Device Identifier (UDID) and are unique to every individual iPhone and iPad. It consists of 40 characters and has a mixture of 40 letters and numbers, for illustration, will look something like this 2g7k7cc806d345be8e8928923f6573089b116577. The combination of numeric and alphabets is unique for every device and can never be similar to another.

Why UDID Is Needed

Your iPhone can only install programs that are approved by Apple. Applications in the App Store have been approved by Apple for general distribution, but beta customers get to try the app before it’s in the store. We register your UDID with Apple so they can approve your application, especially for your iPhone.

What Is The Use Of UDID

As a user, you would have wondered, that’s why you have been asked for the iPhone’s UDID, and it leaves you little distressed. For your relief, let us bring the reason, why UDID is asked from you, with a relevant UDID, a developer can register your device and give it access to non-official (non-App-Store-vetted) software. The UDID carries a huge database to track app installed on your iPhone based on your UDID and they use that data to target ads. UDID might also be attached to a username, password, and social network login, and technically, it’s merely a number, but if it’s put together with a database of other information it becomes the info bank which holds all that information together.

How To Find Out Your iPhone’s UDID

The word UDID, sounds so tricky and complex, but eventually the process to find it out is extremely easy and requires few steps. The steps to find out your iPhone’s UDID, follows:

Step 1

Open iTunes not on your iPhone, but connect the iTunes on Mac or PC app

Step 2

Plug in your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad

Step 3

Click its name under the devices list

Step 4

Make sure you’re on the Summary tab

Step 5

Click on the text “Serial Number” , it will change to show your UDID

Step 6

That is your UDID, just select Copy from the Edit menu

Step 7

Your UDID is now in the clipboard; paste it into an email or message

So this was all about getting the UDID from your phone, and I think it sounds so easy and non-technical to proceed with. With this hope that it would benefit you all out there and you would not be dependent on your developers to guide you with the process. At Techugo, we take pride in developing the mobile apps for the leading brands to startups and our mobile app development team has the expertise to create a unique variety of mobile app development solution for your business needs, which would help you to showcase your idea, goal and dream in the most informative and engaging way. Our team of top mobile app designers is here to help assist you with every step of your mobile app development strategy. We consult, brainstorm, manage the project, design, develop, test, launch, and market apps in the best possible way. You can get in touch with our team to discuss further your concept to bring into reality. The discussion would help you to gain a better insight of your app requirement.